KICHIJOJI: Ramen ZERO... Jiro'esque or Tetsu'esque your choice :)

I've always randomly spotted franchise Menya ZERO1 here and there in Tokyo but never ventured inside... not much of a franchise ramen guy I guess.  

But at 2:30am all the highly ranked ramen spots in Kichijoji were closed... so the cold forced us to stop trekking around in the dark and check out Zero1.  Staring at the Japanese menu for a while when the Ramen Chef hit us up with a....

English Menu!  Nice nice.  Started with a 300yen beeru.

My View of the kitchen... L shaped counter seating.

I went for the basic "Hearty Ramen Dish" that looked so similar to Ramen Jiro and Ramen Dai... A ramen guru friend mentioned that this style of ramen was booming.  Flavor was light compared to Jiro/Dai but it hit the spot.  Side order of Garlic is free...    And my friend ordered the "New Improved Bonito Flake Tsukemen Noodles with Tonkatsu (pork)" and the soup tasted just like my favorite Roppongi Hills location Ramen TETSU.   Think I like his better.

Overall it hands down beat most of the franchise shops that are open late into the night... most of which I regret eating the next morning due to poor foodie rankings.  But if like thick chunky noodles with a heavy broth then this ZERO1 Franchise is a great place to try!

Shop: Men-ya ZERO 1 (Kichijoji Branchi).

Shop website: http://www.zeroichi.jp/menu/index.html

Foodie Website: http://tabelog.com/tokyo/A1320/A132001/13095470/

Address J: 東京都武蔵野市吉祥寺南町1-5-3

Address E: 

MAP:

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ROPPONGI HILLS: 3 Guys Revisit Tsukemen TETSU... normal, large and extra large noodles! All 900yen

Of course... boys will be boys and even though it is not in our best interest to eat ramen at 10:45pm we still do it.  So... I took Hiro and Kenta to one of my favorite spots in Roppongi Hills.

Kenta went for the 800yen Tsukemen Extra Large serving of cold noodles.  My friend decided to push the Extra Large portion of hot noodles "Aji Tama Atsumori Tokumori" for me but asked the nice waiter to reduce it to a simple Large... and Hiro went for the regular "Aji Tama Atsumori"

Free fried onion chips.

If you get a table its perfect for people watching... well let me rephrase... great to see all that is beautiful and stylish in J-girls. 

All 3 of our soup bases were the same.  A very deep rich flavored soup that clings to the noodles... 

Kenta's Extra-Large portion noodles.

Hiro's normal portion noodles.

And my large portion noodles.

Overall everyone was extremely satisfied and got the stamp of approval from ramen connoisseur Kenta.  The only catch is that the shop closes at 11pm so you'll have to rush out of whatever bar to enjoy this great dish... but its always a good thing to head out early and not have to catch the last train.

Ramen Tetsu Address Details Here!

http://tokyobelly.blogspot.jp/2012/05/roppongi-hills-tsuke-men-tetsu-as-thick.html